# itself
## English
### Alternative forms

* it self, it selfe (obsolete)

### Etymology

From Middle English hit-self, equivalent to it +‎ -self.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada) IPA: /ɪtˈsɛlf/
* Audio (US):(file)
* (General Australian) IPA: /ɪtˈself/
* Rhymes: -ɛlf

### Pronoun

itself (the third person singular, neuter, personal pronoun, the reflexive form of it, masculine himself, feminine herself, gender-neutral themself, plural themselves)
* (reflexive pronoun) it; A thing as the object of a verb or preposition that also appears as the subject
    The door closed by itself
* (emphatic) it; used to intensify the subject, especially to emphasize that it is the only participant in the predicate
** 1638, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy. […], 5th edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [Robert Young, Miles Flesher, and Leonard Lichfield and William Turner] for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 2, member 6, subsection iv, page 298:Beautie alone is a ſoveraigne remedy againſt feare,griefe,and all melancholy fits; a charm,as Peter de la Seine and many other writers affirme,a banquet it ſelfe;he gives inſtance in diſcontented Menelaus that was ſo often freed by Helenas faire face: and $^h$Tully, 3 Tusc. cites Epicurus as a chiefe patron of this Tenent.
    The door itself is quite heavy.
* (emphatic, archaic) it; used to refer back to an earlier subject
** 1842, Andrew Ure, A Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures and Mines:The oil by degrees gets covered with a curdy mass, which after some time settles to the bottom, while itself becomes limpid and colorless.

#### Synonyms

* itsself (obsolete)

#### Derived terms

* a house divided against itself cannot stand
* being-for-itself
* being-in-itself
* dense-in-itself
* end in itself
* history repeats itself
* in and of itself
* in itself
* in-itselfness
* lend itself to
* of itself
* pay for itself
* repeat itself
* suggest itself
* the trash takes itself out
* thing in itself
* thing-in-itself
* write itself

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

#### See also

| | | | personal pronoun | personal pronoun | personal pronoun | possessive pronoun | possessive determiner |
| | | | subjective | objective | reflexive | possessive pronoun | possessive determiner |
| first person | singular | singular | I me (colloquial) | me | myself me mysen | mine | my mine (before vowels, archaic) me |
| first person | plural | plural | we | us | ourselves ourself oursen | ours | our |
| second person | singular | standard, formal | you | you | yourself yoursen | yours yourn (obsolete outside dialects) | your |
| second person | singular | archaic, informal | thou | thee | thyself theeself thysen | thine | thy thine (before vowels) |
| second person | plural | standard | you ye (archaic) | you | yourselves | yours yourn (obsolete outside dialects) | your |
| second person | plural | colloquial | you all y'all you guys | you all y'all you guys | y'allselves | y'all's you guys' your guys' (proscribed) | y'all's your all's (nonstandard) you guys' your guys' (proscribed) |
| second person | plural | informal / dialectal | (see list of dialectal forms at you and inflected forms in those entries) | (see list of dialectal forms at you and inflected forms in those entries) | (see list of dialectal forms at you and inflected forms in those entries) | (see list of dialectal forms at you and inflected forms in those entries) | (see list of dialectal forms at you and inflected forms in those entries) |
| third person | singular | masculine | he | him | himself hisself (archaic) hissen | his hisn (obsolete outside dialects) | his |
| third person | singular | feminine | she | her | herself hersen | hers hern (obsolete outside dialects) | her |
| third person | singular | neuter | it hit | it hit | itself hitself | its his (archaic) | its his (archaic) hits |
| third person | singular | genderless | they | them | themself, themselves | theirs | their |
| third person | singular | genderless, nonspecific (formal) | one | one | oneself | – | one's |
| third person | plural | plural | they | them hem, 'em | themselves theirsen | theirs theirn (obsolete outside dialects) | their |

### Anagrams

* flites, elfist, filets, fistle, stifle, fliest